2024 ACFE FRAUD CONFERENCE MIDDLE EAST

Jamal Saleh joined the UAE Banks Federation (UBF) in July 2018 and became UBF's Director General on 1 January 2019. Prior to joining UBF, his last role was head of credit & risk and acting regional chief risk officer with a leading GCC bank.

Saleh spent 29 years in banking (conventional and Islamic) and covered credit and enterprise risk management (credit, market, operational, liquidity and IT risks).

His first 10 years were in private banking and credit in the United States, and the last 19 were in the UAE in corporate banking, credit, and risk management with three leading UAE banks.

He served as the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association’s UAE Director General for seven years from 2007 to 2014 and was concurrently Member on British University's Advisory Board.

Saleh graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude, from New Jersey (USA) in Finance and Banking, and held six professional certifications in credit, finance, investment and risk management.

He was a frequent TV guest on local and international business channels and newspapers, as well as a key speaker at several regional and international forums in UAE, MENA, Singapore, Europe, USA, etc., including 11 years at the renowned RiskMinds of Geneva/Amsterdam from 2006 to 2016, and the Commonwealth of Nations at Westminster Palace's Central Hall in London.

Hala Bou Alwan is the founder and CEO of Hala Bou Alwan (HBA) Consultancy, a firm that specializes in fields including compliance, financial crimes, cybercrimes, governance advisory and training. Prior to establishing her two firms in 2018, she held two senior management consultancy roles at Thomson Reuters, leading market development of the compliance, risk and financial crimes business across emerging markets globally and she also created the advisory and educational governance, risk, and compliance business across EMEA and Asia. In addition to this, Bou Alwan is the cofounder of H.A.D Consultants, which specializes in self-empowerment events adhering to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Bou Alwan was the Technology Strategies Middle East compliance consultant authorized by Dubai Financial Services Authority and head of compliance, anti-financial crimes and sanctions at BLOM Bank France. Prior to that, she was a legal consultant at the Raja Bou Alwan Law firm and an intellectual property compliance officer at the United Nations Development Programme.

She is a subject matter expert at Dubai TV, producing and delivering morning show content on different regulatory crimes and conduct, cybersecurity, ethics, compliance, humanitarian and social causes. She has also hosted the EXPO Entrepreneurs live show, where she conducted many interviews and reports with entrepreneurs, politicians, presidents, government officials and celebrities.

Bou Alwan is a registered international trainer and speaker at several governmental authorities and highly reputable organizations, including the Union of Arab Securities Authority, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market—International Organization for Securities Commissions, Thomson Reuters, Forbes Middle East, Capital Markets Authorities and many more. She is an advisory board member at the British University in Dubai for the business and law faculties and a co-chair of the entrepreneur committee at the Capital Club Dubai.

She is a lawyer, a member of the Lebanese Lawyers’ Bar Association, and holds an executive master’s in international business law with a focus on cybersecurity from Boston University (USA), a master’s of law in artificial intelligence from Universite La Sagesse (Lebanon), and a bachelor’s degree in law from the Lebanese Law University.

Bou Alwan has 22 years of success helping regulators, governments, universities, boards and high-profile organizations develop their governance and compliance road maps. She is a thought leader and author of a book on AI, many articles, interviews, and research papers published by Boston and Cambridge Universities, Forbes, Gulf News, Thomson Reuters and many more.

Nina Schick is an author, entrepreneur and advisor specialising in Generative AI.

One of the first GenAI experts, Schick analyses how this nascent field of artificial intelligence will change humanity.

She is the founder of Tamang Ventures, an advisory firm focused on Generative AI, and the creator of “The Era of Generative AI”—a Substack project telling the story of GenAI through exclusive content and interviews.

Schick advises several AI and technology companies, including Truepic, the first to build media authentication technology, and Synthesia, the world's first AI-to-video generation platform. Schick is a renowned public speaker, appearing on stages at such events as CES, TEDx, COGx and Web Summit. She has delivered keynote speeches for businesses and organisations such as Microsoft, Adobe, DARPA and the UN.

Schick's debut book, DEEPFAKES, was released in 2020 and has been translated into five languages. The first book on AI-generated content, it predicts that over 90% of online content will be “created” by AI in 2030.

Wired, Time, MIT Technology Review and The Times have all published Schick's works. She is also a seasoned media commentator, appearing regularly on BBC, Sky, Bloomberg and CNBC. Before specialising in Generative AI, Schick worked on geopolitical crises, including Brexit, the Russia-Ukraine war and state-sponsored disinformation.

She has advised leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Schick speaks seven languages and calls London, Berlin and Kathmandu home.

Alexander Wagner is a senior chair at the Swiss Finance Institute and an associate professor of finance at the University of Zurich. He earned his Ph.D in political economy from Harvard University. Prior to that, he completed studies in economics and law in his hometown of Linz, Austria. Wagner’s practical experience derives from his work as an independent counsel for PwC and from serving as the chairman of a proxy advisor. His research focuses on corporate finance and governance, investments, and behavioral economics and finance. He has recently investigated how investors perceive the value of straight and vague talk of managers, and the stock market implications of political elections in the U.S.

Dr. Alexis Stenfors spent 15 years as a foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives trader at HSBC, Citi, Crédit Agricole and Merrill Lynch. In early 2009, he deliberately mismarked his trading positions at Merrill Lynch, which resulted in a five-year prohibition order by the FSA. Labelled as “one of the world’s most infamous rogue traders,” Stenfors returned to academia to write a doctoral thesis with the title “Determining the LIBOR: A Study of Power and Deception” at SOAS (University of London). His research on manipulative and collusive practices has since been published in journals such as the “Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Review of Political Economy and Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory.” He is also the author of “Barometer of Fear: An Insider’s Account of Rogue Trading and the Greatest Banking Scandal in History.” Dr. Stenfors is a frequent consultant, guest lecturer and public speaker.

*The ACFE does not compensate former rogue traders.

Bethmara Kessler is a global thought leader, lecturer, consultant and advisor to businesses on the topics of fraud, audit, compliance, enterprise risk management, shared services delivery strategies, process transformation and is on the ACFE Faculty and Advisory Council. Kessler is the former Head of Integrated Global Services for the Campbell Soup Company. Her career spans over 30 years in positions that include Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Audit Executive and Enterprise Risk Management Head. Her extensive experience also includes leadership roles in audit, risk management, information technology and corporate investigations in companies including EY, Avon Products, Nabisco, EMI Group, LBrands, The Fraud and Risk Advisory Group and Warner Music Group.

Bruce Dorris is the President and Chief Executive Officer for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). He also serves as an advisory member to the ACFE Board of Regents. Dorris has conducted anti-fraud training for the United Nations, the American Bankers Association, colleges and universities around the world, as well as with the FBI, GAO and other federal and state law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Dorris has been with the ACFE for 11 years, previously serving as Vice President and Program Director, and is proud to be involved in the continued growth and professional direction of the world’s largest anti-fraud organization.

Prior to joining the ACFE, Dorris earned his Juris Doctor from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1993 and is licensed to practice law in state and federal courts in Texas and Louisiana. He served as a prosecutor in Louisiana for 13 years, focusing primarily on financial crime investigations.

Captain Mohammed E. Al Marri has served as the head of performance audit at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai since 2010. He graduated from Kingston University in London with a Master of Science in accounting and finance in 2015 and from Dubai Men’s College with a bachelor’s degree with honors in business administration in 2012. Al Marri is in charge of designing the annual audit engagements on internal operations, strategic planning policies and evaluating the internal financial misconducts for the GDRFA.

Alexandra Wrage is a former member of FIFA’s Independent Governance committee and was a member of the 2015 B20 Taskforce on Anti-Corruption, which drafted recommendations to G20 leaders for consideration in their global economic policies. Wrage has held numerous committee positions, including Chair of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the ABA’s International Section and Chair of the International Legal Affairs Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and has participated in anti-bribery working groups with the OECD and UN Global Compact. In addition to this, she has won multiple awards including the 2014 Women in Compliance Lifetime Achievement Award for Service to the Compliance Industry. Currently Wrage is the president and founder of TRACE.

She is the author of Bribery and Extortion: Undermining Business, Governments and Security, co-editor of How to Pay a Bribe: Thinking Like a Criminal to Thwart Bribery Schemes and the host of the training DVD Toxic Transactions: Bribery, Extortion and the High Price of Bad Business, produced by NBC. Wrage has written three compliance guidebooks and is a guest blogger for Corporate Counsel. She speaks frequently on topics of international law, anti-corruption initiatives and the hidden costs of corruption.

A passion for fighting corruption
Fraud Magazine | July/August 2016

Serhat Khan is the chief audit executive at National Petroleum Construction Company. He was previously the director of internal audit at McDermott and Chicago Bridge and Iron in the U.S., where he led global teams focused on internal audit, investigations, risk management and process improvements. Prior to that, he held senior accounting and audit roles at Kohler Company in the U.S.

During his career spanning more than 17 years, Khan has audited major projects in more than 45 countries and led global investigations. His experience includes working with external counsel, corporate security and law enforcement in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Waheed Alkahtani is executive director of the Saudi Anti-Fraud Association (SAFA), a nonprofit professional association and an affiliate of with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner's (ACFE) Saudi Arabia Chapter. In addition, he is an auditing consultant with Saudi Aramco Internal Audits. Alkahtani has more than 19 years of experience with Saudi Aramco and more than 10 years with other companies in Saudi Arabia.

He jointly conducted several studies into ethics hotlines, codes of conduct and anti-fraud programmes. In addition, he was responsible for designing, deploying and implementing the Saudi Aramco General Auditor Hotline in 2010. In 2009, Alkahtani reestablished the local chapter of the ACFE in Dhahran, which was later named the ACFE Saudi Arabia Chapter 86.

Amine Antari is a managing director in the investigation and disputes practice at Kroll and head of the Dubai office covering the Middle East region. Antari has extensive experience in complex investigations and compliance consulting.

Prior to joining Kroll, Antari was the head of the compliance investigations team at an international engineering and construction company with a significant presence in the Middle East. He was initially responsible for setting up the investigation team and managing the delivery of complex investigations into corruption, fraud, anti-trust and competition across various regions including the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Americas. Prior to that, Antari was a manager in the forensic practice at a Big 4 firm based in Montreal, Canada, where he was responsible for the management and delivery of investigations, and providing litigation support services across North America.

Hossam El Shaffei has more than 35 years of global and regional work experience in multinational organisations such as the United Nations and United States Agency for International Development. He has worked to provide management and boards with fully integrated, strategic high-profile and value-added advice for better governance, risk management, controls, fraud prevention and detection, quality, transparency and fighting corruption programs.

El Shaffei is a recognised oversight subject-matter expert with global and regional experience. He has knowledge of world-class, internal oversight services such as: audit, investigation, inspection, financial management and administration (transportation, HR, premises management, maintenance, procurement and construction) in international and multinational organisations.

Dr. Tharwat M. El-Sakran is a professor of linguistics at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He has published several papers on various issues related to teaching English for specific purposes, cross-cultural communication, professional communication skills, translation, interpreting, forensic linguistics and discourse analysis. He is currently conducting research on résumé padding and methods of detection. Dr. El-Sakran is also a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Tim Harvey is a fraud consultant with experience investigating fraud in both the private and public sectors. He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1979 and was a career detective, spending a third of his service at New Scotland Yard’s Fraud Squad and as the Detective Superintendent of the Economic Crime Department, he managed more than 120 investigators. He joined the City of London Police when they obtained government lead status for fraud in 2004. After retiring from the force he became the Director of U.K. Operations for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners as well as a Justice of the Peace on the bench of Northamptonshire Magistrates Court.

Dr. Stephen Hill is a Trustee Director of the Fraud Advisory Panel and chairs its Cybercrime Interest Group.

Hill spent many years working for a top firm of chartered accountants heading the Fraud and Forensic Group, leading an expert body advising clients on prevention, detection and recovery of fraudulent assets, working closely with organisations in both the public and private sector.

He has developed and delivered a series of counter fraud and investigation courses to clients both in the U.K. and overseas including the National Crime Agency, Charity Commission, CIFAS, police forces both in the U.K. and overseas and private sector corporations.

With an appointment as a Volunteer to the City of London Police Economic Crime Directive, Hill assists fraud investigators with the aid of online investigation techniques and speaks at schools on the dangers of the internet in line with his role as a safeguarding and child protection governor at his local primary school.

Dr. Hill sits on the ACFE U.K. Chapter committee and is an honourable member of the London Fraud Forum.

Rajiv Gupta is an author, international speaker and a mentor. He is currently senior vice president, global audits and risk at Diageo India. He has also worked as head of internal controls for India and Southwest Asia at Coca-Cola and assurance manager with PwC in India and London. Gupta is an RPA (Robotics Process Automation) evangelist and subject matter expert in the field of forensic accounting and fraud prevention. He has more than 15 years of professional experience in designing fraud prevention programs, forensic accounting, automation of data analytics, internal controls, risk assessment and SOX/internal audits. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Accountant, Certified Information Systems Auditor, certified in COBIT v5 (F) and holds Diploma in Information Systems Audit (ICAI). He is the author of “Technical Guide on Internal Audit of Beverage Industry” published by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in December 2013.

Gupta has been a guest speaker for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Software Asset Management Strategy (SAMS) Europe and the National Academy for Direct Taxes (NADT). He has spoken on fraud prevention, fraud risk assessment, deep dive intelligence, financial statements fraud and other issues at professional conferences in Australia, Germany, Hongkong, Dubai, Scotland and India.

Kanupriya Jain is a director with nearly 14 years of experience working on complex multijurisdictional investigations and advising senior client management on proactive risk mitigation. She has experience working in more than 15 countries in the Middle East and Africa, and South and Southeast Asia.

Her areas of expertise include financial and nonfinancial investigations, complex and multijurisdictional problem solving, U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations, and advising clients on risk mitigation. Jain has assisted several multinational clients in managing problems and led senior management trainings. She was named as an “asset recovery expert” for India by Who’s Who Legal Magazine in 2014 and 2015. She has co-authored the white paper "Grey Practices – Fuelling Fraud and Corruption in the Indian Business Environment," spoken at the ACFE Fraud Conference Middle East, and has contributed to published articles on fraud and corruption in Asia. Jain is a Chartered Accountant, holding bachelor of law and bachelor of commerce degrees. She is fluent in English and Hindi.

Mohamad Kaissi is a governance, risk and compliance (GRC) specialist with more than 15 years of experience. He observed the mechanisms of monitoring functions from both sides of the spectrum, as a consultant and a practitioner. As a consultant, he helped organisations establish their second and third lines of defense by helping boards of directors strengthen their governance models. As a practitioner, Kaissi obtained an in-depth view of the detailed challenges facing organisations in effectively reaping the rewards from the implementation of successful GRC frameworks.

Kaissi is the head of internal audit at Banque Misr Liban and the president of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Lebanon Chapter. He previously worked with both Deloitte Enterprise Risk Services in the Middle East and Ernst & Young Business Risk Services in Doha, Qatar.

Sherman McGrew is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He entered military service in 1979, retiring as a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel in 2010. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and has had three active duty deployments, to include two combat tours in Iraq in 2003 and 2008. In 2008 he worked extensively with the U.K. Military and the U.K. Civilian Police Contingent in Basra, Iraq.

He entered law enforcement in 1987 and retired as a captain with the Waterbury, Connecticut Police Department in 2009, having also served as a patrolman, detective, sergeant, and lieutenant. He has conducted literally thousands of interviews with suspects and has lectured on interview and interrogation to both police, military and international audiences. As a detective, he extensively investigated financial crimes, securing convictions while at all times respecting the rights of the accused.

Iyad Mourtada is an international speaker, trainer and author with a diverse background in internal auditing, risk management and fraud examination. Over the last decade, he has taught various unique auditing and fraud-related courses to multinational corporations and government entities globally. Mourtada uses modern psychology theories related to fraud combined with innovative, interactive and creative teaching methods to add value to the learning process of more than 10,000 professionals globally. He is the General Manager of OpenThinking, a leading business training company in Dubai and an authorized trainer with the ACFE to teach the CFE Exam Review Course in the UAE. He is the author of several internal audit and anti-fraud books and frequent speaker in many international conferences for IIA, IMA and ACFE.

Robin Singh was named one of the “Top-50 Smart leaders” across the Middle East in the field of healthcare ethics and compliance. He was also named to tje “40 under Forty” list by the National Association of Valuators. He has worked across jurisdictions such as UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Singapore, India and Afghanistan. A recognised subject matter expert in the field of healthcare ethics, compliance and fraud investigations, Singh is experienced in strategically navigating Fortune 500 companies and governments through ethical and regulatory dilemmas. He has developed client adaptive programs on ethics and compliance, and an anti-bribery and anti-fraud framework during his tenure with a Big 4 firm and Protiviti.

Singh, after assisting a healthcare governmental entity set up a compliance and ethics program, has now moved on to a role in legal affairs to develop an entity-wide regulatory affairs risk management program.

Gerry Zack is the CEO of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Health Care Compliance Association, a position he assumed in November 2017 after more than 30 years of experience providing preventive, detective and investigative services involving fraud, corruption and diverse compliance matters. He has worked with businesses of all sizes and in many industries, nonprofit organizations and government agencies globally. Prior to joining SCCE and HCCA, Zack was in the global forensics practice of BDO. He founded his own fraud and compliance risk advisory and forensic accounting firm in 1990 and operated that practice for 20 years. Before that, he was an audit manager with an international accounting firm. Along the way, he served for two years as chief operating and compliance officer for an international scientific organisation.

For two years, Zack was the author of “The ACFE Cookbook,” a column in Fraud Magazine devoted to financial statement fraud cases, and has authored three books on fraud: Financial Statement Fraud: Strategies for Detection and Investigation (2013), Fair Value Accounting Fraud: New Global Risks and Detection Techniques (2009), and Fraud and Abuse in Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Prevention and Detection (2003). He is also the principal author of the ACFE seminar Uncovering Fraud with Financial and Ratio Analysis, and he has contributed to several other ACFE course manuals.